Reposting Summer Thirst Quenchers

Chilled thirst quenchers and soups to beat the summer heat!!! Click on the drink names for detailed recipes

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ICED TEA

 

AAMER AMBOL (a soupy raw mango preparation)

WATERMELON JUICE  

AAM PORA SHERBET (roasted raw mango drink)

 These Summer delights are off to SERVE IT - CHILLED

Mango Kulfi

Summer ….the season of Mangoes, vacations, sorbets, ice-creams, kulfis and more….

This summer has been a summer of Mango kulfis for us ….making kulfis almost every 3 days and relishing this awesome summer treat almost daily.

The recipe is a slight modification of Tarla Dalal’s mango kulfi recipe found here

Ingredients : yields 11-12 medium sized kulfis

Full Cream  Milk – ½ litre (the full cream part is optional)

Condensed milk  – ¾ cup of a 180ml cup (I used sweetened condensed milk)

Milk powder – ¾ cup of a 180 ml cup

Sugar (may be skipped if condensed milk is sweetened OR the mango is v.sweet) – 2 tbsp

Mango pulp of 3 -4 medium sized mangoes.

6 aluminium moulds

Procedure:

1.    Mix together the milk, condensed milk and milk powder  and bring to a boil and simmer for 5-7 minutes

2.    Cool down the mixture completely. I put it in the refrigerator to fasten the cooling process

3.     In the meantime, keep the mango pulp of 3-4 mangoes ready

4.     After the milk mix cools, add the pulp and give the mango-milk mix with a hand whipper.

5.     Pour into moulds and freeze.

     Take them out of the mould, or as Tarla Dalal says "demould" them.

6.   

          Serve, relish and attain mango nirvana!! ;))

This post is off to SERVE IT CHILLED
and also to 'SIMPLE AND IN SEASON'

Iced Tea

Come hot-summer Sunday afternoon and the heart cries out for something dizzyingly chilled!
And so this Sunday, it was the turn of my favourite ICED TEA!!!

Lazing around, swinging on my backyard swing and sipping the Iced Tea, I let the tangy, chilled taste take over and soothe my senses ....

Ingredients : what I used to make 5 tall glasses of Iced Tea
*Water - 5 1/2 glasses of water
*Darjeeling Tea - 5 tsp
*Sugar - 5 tsp
*Black salt - 1 tsp
*Lemon - 4 for juices and 2 sliced for dunking into the tea and for garnishing at the glass rim
*Mint Leaves - 10-12

*Ice Cubes - as many as you want

Procedure :
Normal Black Tea is to be made as follows :
1. Boil the water.
2. In a teapot or vessel(if you dont have such a large teapot), take 5 tsp of tealeaves and pour the boiling water on the leaves. Cover and let it brew for 2-3 minutes or till the leaves sink to the bottom. Do not brew for too long, as the tea will become bitter.
3.Use a strainer to pour the brewed tea into a jug or another container. The tea should be golden brown in colour.
4. Now add sugar, rocksalt(optional), lemon juice.
5.Refrigerate (in the freezer) for 1/2 hour. Add the mint leaves, lemon slices and keep in the freezer for another 10-15 minutes.
6.Take tall glasses to which drop some ice cubes and pour the chilled tea.

Aaahhh Bliss!!!

Water Melon Drink

Scorching heat. The dry moisture-less air parching your throat and the body begging for fluids.

Just the right backdrop for chilled fresh fruit drinks...which not only quenches your thirst much better that the synthetic fizzy drinks but gives the body the much needed minerals and nutrients so easily lost the the unending heat!

So here's the recipe for a chilled and pretty red glass of water melon drink!

Ingredients : One medium sized melon yielded three tall glasses of drink

* One Water Melon (or as many as you need)

* A tsp of sugar

* Ice cubes

Procedure :

1. Scoop out the pulp of the water melon and de-seed (that's the troublesome part!)

2. Put the de-seeded pulp, crushed ice/ice cubes and sugar in a blender. Blend to a smooth paste. Add chilled water if required.

3. Pour into glasses and let the heat take a backseat while you savour the bright red drink!!!

Aamer Ambol

Raw Mango in a light watery soup

Come summers and the kitchen becomes a sea of orange, yellow and green! Gorgeous mangoes in all its various hues and avatars, rule the roost so to say....be it the morning breakfast with mango smoothie, the mid morning fruity break with mangoes, the afternoon dessert of mango custard or mango pudding, a cool smoked raw mango drink to beat the heat, mango chutney, just mangoes and oh so many more delicious mouth watering mango delights to fill the day!

So today when my Ma's friends, an elderly couple, was coming over for lunch, I decided to go for a traditional Bengali summer lunch and dish out the oh-so-soothing Aam er Ambol as the last but final item on the menu, right before the desserts of Doi-mishti. As I have written earlier (here), Chaatni, tok or Ambol is the penultimate item in a traditional Bengali meal, the final one being doi-mishti (Curd and sweet).

So here goes the recipe of the simplest of simple preparation :
Ingredients :
# Raw Mango - 3
#Mustard seeds - 1/2tsp
#Dry Whole red chilli - 1
#Sugar - 100 gms or sugar syrup - 1 cup (I used up the leftover syrup after making roshogollas)
#Rock salt - 1/2 tsp
#Chilli flakes - a pinch (optional)
#Mustard Oil - 1 tbsp

Procedure :
1. Slice the raw mangoes longitudinally as shown.

2. In a wok, heat the mustard oil. Throw into the oil, mustard seeds and dry whole red chilli.

3.As it splutters, add the sliced raw mango pieces. Add the sugar/sugar syrup. Add 4-5 cups of water. Cover with a lid, lower the flame and let it come to a boil

4. As it boils, sprinkle the rocksalt. Check the taste and if required add some more sugar and salt.

5. Sprinkle a pinch of red chilli flakes (optional)

6. Take it off the flame and chill.

The Aam er Ambol (Pronounced Awmbol as in Awful) is ready to be savoured after lunch or dinner!

Aam Pora Shorbot

(A Drink made of Roasted Raw Mango pulp)

Aam pora shorbot/sherbet is a perfect antidote to the scorching heat of the peak summer months of April, May in India. Returning from school to a chilled glass of home made Aam pora shorbot during the deadly hot summer months are fond childhood memories. At the onset of summer, Ma would make a huge quantity of the concentrate, add preservative (Sodium Benzoate) for storing, and use as and when required. She would dilute the spiced and sweetened concentrate with chilled water for instant use. It would last the whole tenure of summer.

These days, a variation of Aam pora shorbot...Aam panna, is a much in demand summer drink, available in packaged avatar too. That these healthy, soothing and tasty drinks are being chosen over the aerated variety to quench thirst is indeed a cause for celebration! These drinks have a high nutrient value, a saviour against heat strokes and dehydrations too.
Unlike Ma, I dont make the concentrate in bulk....I use 8-10 mangoes at a time so that the concentrate lasts me a week or so.
Note : Aam Panna and Aam Pora shorbot preparation is the same. The only difference is the starting material.
While in Aam Pora Shorbot, the green mangoes are roasted over fire, in Aam Panna, the green mangoes are boiled. I prefer the smoky taste of the roasted mangoes and hence, though more time-consuming, I make the Aam Pora variety more often.
So here goes the recipe :
Ingredients :
What I used...
Sugar : 250gm
Rock Salt : 1tsp
Red Chilli flakes :1tsp
Roasted and ground Cumin powder : 2 tsp

Procedure :
1. Roast the mangoes in their jackets over a flame.
2. Cool the mangoes and then remove the skin.
3. Scoop out the pulp and mash it after removing the seed
3. Pass the pulp through a sieve, so that the fibres, if any, are removed.
4. Add powdered sugar, chilli, flakes, rock salt and mix over medium flame for a minute or two.
5. Sprinkle roasted and ground cumin powder.
6.Take it off the flame. Cool and store the concentrate in glass bottles.

To make a drink, add 1/4 glass of the concentrate. Add ice cubes and chilled water.